Updated 24th May 2026
Blanchardstown Brass Band Festival – Celebrating 200 years
Today is the day and we got a beautiful sunny day for it to celebrate with Blanchardstown Brass Band and many more bands. Massed Band Performance at 3pm. Hope to see plenty of people out to listen to the great bands throughout the day
Navan Choral and Instrumental Festival
We had 10 solo competitors and 20 members playing in ensembles today for Ardee Concert Band at the @navanchoralfestival this weekend. We took home prizes across the board with firsts in the U16, U19 and Open sections along with 2nd places in the U12, U19, Junior and Intermediate Ensembles. Lots more silverware on it’s way to Ardee! What a Talent from these Youngsters. 🎉🏆🎉
Navan Results:U12 – Callum Doolan
2nd place U16 – Tadhg Doolan
1st place U19 – Hollie Reilly
1st place, Emma Boyle
2nd place Open – Ruby McHugh
1st placeJunior Ensemble – ACB 2nd place
Intermediate Ensemble – ACB 2nd place
Super playing by our 10 soloists and 20 members in our ensembles. Banding is safe in the wee county for another while! 😉
Iabcb Band Championships in Bohemian Centre
Final Results
unfortunately we didn’t come away with a win for our senior band as we went to defend our National 1st place but we did come away with some other fabulous awards on the day:
Our Fabulous Intermezzo Ensemble came 2nd in Section 4 and our Senior Band Member Maggie Healy won’t Best Supporting Section for her performance on the Alto Clarinet.
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Delighted to be able to facilitate the National Band Championships once again this year for the 2nd year in a row.
Message from the Irish Association of Brass and Concert Bands – IABCB ; We are just 4 days away from this year’s National Band Championships, being held on Saturday May 9th, at the Bohemian Centre, Ardee, Co Louth. 18 bands will battle it out across several Brass and Concert Band sections.The schedule for the day is as follows (all timings are approximate):
10am – Unregistered Section (1 band)
10:10am – Section 4 Concert Bands (4 bands)
11:30am – Section 3 Concert Bands (1 band)
11:50am – Section 2 Brass Bands (2 bands)
12:30pm – Adjudication and Results
1-2pm – Break
2pm – Section 2 Concert Bands (3 bands)
2:55pm – Section 1 Brass Bands (4 bands)
4:15pm – Section 1 Concert Bands (3 bands)
5:30pm – Adjudication and Results
We are delighted to welcome world-renowned Tuba soloist, Les Neish, as the adjudicator for this year’s event.Tickets for the full day are just €5, and available on the day. Please note, the event is cash only with no facility for electronic payments.Come along on Saturday and support all of our participating bands 🏆🎶
The Irish Association of Brass and Concert Bands @iab_cb Annual National Bands Championships Competitions will be held here in the Bohemian Centre, @ardeetown on Saturday May 9th 2026, All Welcome.
18 Bands from all across Ireland will be taking part in the competition including our very own Ardee Concert Band and Ardee Intermezzo Ensemble
Competition starts from 9.30am
Check out IABCB FACEBOOK Page for more details https://www.facebook.com/share/1BNjWhpryW/
St Patrick’s Day 2026
🍀St Patrick’s Day 2026🍀What a parade once again and it kept dry too. An amazing march for over 50 band members today in front of our biggest and best audience of the year ❤️
Nothing like a parade to turn up the hunger, thanks to @apachepizzaardee for the post parade Pizzas 🍕
This year also saw 6 members of the OShea Family marching in the parade, what a milestone for this lovely family.
Ardee St. Patrick’s Day Parade
we are delighted to be once again leading our towns parade with Pride this St. Patrick’s Day
Joint Concert a huge Success
Our senior band had a wonderful joint concert on Wednesday 11th March, as they joined forces with the TUDublin Wind Ensemble for an evening of music in the state of the art Concert Hall in Grangegorman’s East Quad, Under the joint batons of Ronan O’Reilly and Conor O’Riordan
Joint Concert with TU Dublin Wind Ensemble
On Wednesday 11th March, Ardee Concert Band will join forces with the TUDublin Wind Ensemble for an evening of music in the Concert Hall in Grangegorman’s East Quad. Under the joint batons of Ronan O’Reilly and Conor O’Riordan we are looking forward to this joint concert in one of Dublin’s finest concert venues. Admission is Free.
Concert starts at 7:30pm. Admission is free. Venue is in the East Quad, TU DublinGrangegorman Campus. Eircode: D07 XFF2.
Note there is NO parking available on campus. Q-park in Smithfield is the nearest car park.
International Womens Day 8th March 26
We are delighted to be celebrating International Women’s Day this evening in our Intermezzo Ensemble Rehearsal as Special Guest Conductor Aine Doyle takes the Baton for the evening.
Aine Doyle was 27 years a musician in the Irish Defence Forces School of Music and retired with the rank of sergeant. She is in constant demand as a conductor and has been Musical Director of Maynooth St Mary’s and Lucan Concert Band to name but a few.
A past clarinet pupil of James Daly ( RIAM) and the internationally renowned Thea King, Aine also studied conducting with Pat Dunleavy and famous brass band conductor & adjudicator Dennis Wilby. Aine holds both performance and teaching certificates from RIAM and Trinity College.
Having played every clarinet seat imaginable from Eb, Bb, Alto & Bass. Here in Ardee it is on percussion where she currently plies her trade!
IABCB NATIONAL COMPETITIONS
This years National Band Championships are due to take place on weekend 9th / 10th May 2026 here in the Bohemian Centre.
The Annual General Meeting AGM of Ardee Concert Band will take place on Monday 23rd February in the Bohemian Centre at 8:00pm.
Members and Parents are invited to attend and to voice opinions on any aspect of band life.
There will be no obligation to go on the committee.If you would like to get involved in the running of the band, but cannot attend the meeting, please don’t hesitate to contact me.Tim O’Callaghan, secretary 086-3538173
Brass Bands Northern Ireland Solos and Ensemble competition
The Templeton Perpetual Challenge Cup is proudly at home in the Bohemian Centre after the Ardee Quartet won the most prestigious ensemble class at the Brass Bands Northern Ireland Solos and Ensemble competition in Lisburn yesterday.
Playing an arrangement by Ciaran Duddy of Cold Play’s Viva La Vida, the last performance of the day found favour with adjudicator Christopher Bond! Ronan Tallon, Emma Boyle, Ciaran Duddy & James MacCafferty conducted by Mark Jenkins got their hands on this most elusive piece of silverware for the first time.
There was also a first in the Senior Ensemble for Ardee in the Unregistered category conducted by Mr Terry Doherty. This ten piece consisted of Ronan Tallon, Mark Jenkins, Emma Boyle, Peter McKeever, Olivia Doolin, Ciaran Duddy, Brian Downey, Callum Doolin, Michaela Sweeney and James MacCafferty
In the Solos Olivia Doolin took silver in the Under 12 section on Bb Cornet.
In total Ardee Concert Band took away 16 Gold medals, 1 silver medal, the fabulous Templeton Challenge Cup, 1 gold, 2 silver & 2 bronze certificates.
Congratulations also go to Brian Downey who won the Slow Melody section and came second in the Technical A Solo!
B.B.N.I. held the event in Wallace High School for the first time and what a success it was … thank you all! 🏆🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥈
Workshop with Mr. Brian Downey
Members of the Ardee Intermezzo Ensemble recently preparing for the Brass Bands Northern Ireland Solo and Ensemble Competition with tutor and brass virtuoso Mr. Brian Downey, one of the most successful contestants at this event and regular at the Bohemian! Thank you Brian! Michaela Sweeney, Callum Doolin, Brian Downey & Olivia Doolin pictured below in Jan
New Hoodies
Members of the Junior Band and Intermezzo Ensemble modelling their new hoodies. Huge thanks to Mark at @csmprintanddesign for the fantastic service.
